Il nuovo singolo di Norah Jones – vedere sotto – è entrato nella classifica 50 Songs di una radio ed una televisione nazionale. Forse potrete ascoltarla oggi pomeriggio, martedì ventiquattro novembre, dopo le quattro del pomeriggio. E chissà cosa si inventerà – dopo  – il programma rock previsto, alle sei del pomeriggio ed a mezzanotte e mezza.

Su un’altra emittente c’è il Trl da Roma e finora sono stati interessanti i Broken Heart College. E dovrebbe esserci anche una certa Ariel. Passando al cinema, dovrebbero esserci anche i protagonisti del film Meno male che ci sei, le cui musiche dovrebbero essere di un certo Antonio Barba. Ed in questo film  si dovrebbe sentire anche «Io camminerò» di Umberto Tozzi. Replica del programma dopo le sette di sera.

21.11.09 Come vi sono sembrati The Fall (L’autunno) e «Chasing Pirates» («Cacciando i pirati»), rispettivamente il nuovo album ed il nuovo singolo di Norah Jones? Se non sbaglio, la Jones dovrebbe avere ottenuto otto Grammy e credo siano davvero meritati. Cosa ne pensate, inoltre, della Blue Note Records, con cui ha inciso il nuovo lavoro? Un suggerimento: potreste votare qualche suo brano di oggi o del passato (come «Sunrise») qui sotto, per il mio blog, magari aggiungendolo.

Infine, questi pirati mi ricordano i pirati del filosofo Gianni Vattimo…

- Vattimo ed una discussione dell’Infedele di La7. Le donne, le prostitute e le escort. Mi scusi Norah Jones per questi dibattiti italiani…

04.11.09 – Bearzatti. Beh, il suo nome è abbastanza noto fra i musicisti ed il pubblico della musica jazz. Francesco Bearzatti mercoledì quattro novembre alla «Maison musique» di Rivoli, in provincia di Torino. E non mi sembrano molti cinque euro…

21.11.08 - Jane Bunnett ed il «Toronto Jazz Festival». Vivete in Canada, conoscete la lingua italiana e siete interessati al jazz?  La sassofonista Jane Bunnett di Toronto (quindi canadese) non suonerà stasera il suo ultimo album, Embracing Voices, al Toronto Jazz Festival, una rassegna della musica afro-americana della sua città. Secondo una newsletter, l’album della suonatrice – che è anche flautista – sarebbe stato cantato in studio in inglese, creolo e spagnolo e sarebbe lontano dal’abituale mix dell’interprete di musica cubana e jazz. Inoltre, le cantanti Molly Johnson e Kellylee Evans sarebbero state ospiti del suo album.

- Località turistiche straniere (Vota)

- Quale di questi monumenti italiani vi piace di più? (Vota)

- La musica. Quale il vostro brano preferito? (Vota)

Un browser europeo – Opera – e Mozilla o i sistemi operativi di Linux ed Apple. Neomedia

- Crema al cacao con nocciole ed anacardi, cioccolato fondente con nocciole o gianduia con nocciole intere oppure al latte con nocciole e nocciole intere

Spreadthesign, dizionario e linguaggio dei segni. Commissione europea – Istruzione e formazione

21 novembre ‘08 – aggiornato 24 novembre ‘09

calogeromira.wordpress.com – e-mail

Risparmio energetico (forse)?

Continuiamo la nostra carrellata dedicata alla casa discografica Blue Note, presentando un brano composto dal batterista Pete La Roca intitolato Lazy afternoon (pigro pomeriggio). Questo brano è apparso in un album intitolato Basra, pubblicato nel 1965.  Lazy afternoon, come dice il titolo stesso, è un brano molto lento ma alquanto suggestivo, Joe Henderson, che è il solista principale al sax tenore, suona in modo semplicemente meraviglioso; il suo sound così etereo ricorda da un lato quello di Lester Young  e il suo soffiato sembra un omaggio al grande Johnny Hodges che nell’orchestra di Duke Ellington suonava il sax contralto.

Pete La Roca, Basra; Blue Note, 1965; personale: Joe Henderson: sax tenore; Steve Kuhn: pianoforte; Steve Swallov: contrabbasso; Pete La Roca: batteria.

Blue Bossa è un brano famoso composto dal sottovalutato trombettista be bop Kenny Dorham, apparso per la prima volta in un album Blue Note intestato al tenorsassofonista Joe Henderson intitolato Page One.  E’ un omaggio alla bossa nova e alla musica brasiliana;  la bossa nova era un genere che stava spopolando negli U.S.A. - non dimentichiamo che agli inizi degli anni 60  jazzisti più famosi di Joe Henderson o di Kenny Dorham, come il grande sassofonista tenore Stan Getz, che insieme alla cantante brasiliana Astrud Gilberto, aveva registrato con sommo scandalo dei puristi jazz,  alcune canzoni di Antonio Jobim.

Blue Bossa è anche il brano più famoso di Kenny Dorham ed è anche il più citato in ambito non prettamente jazz. Paradossalmente questo brano, piuttosto che rilanciare il maturo trombettista, ebbe il merito di lanciare un’altra stella come il sassofonista tenore Joe Henderson nel firmamento della Blue Note  la casa discografica fondata nel 1939 da Alfred Lion e Francis Wolff.

Page One, Blue Note 1963; Kenny Dorham: tromba; Joe Henderson sax tenore; Mccoy Tyner pianoforte; Butch Warren: contrabbasso; Pete La Roca: batteria

It was today, 16 years ago that the world was introduced to the legendary Wu-Tang Clan with the wide release of their album, “36 Chambers”. Exposing the gritty rhyme stylings of New York and making it mainstream while still being underground, the album included hits “C.R.E.A.M (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)”, “Protect Ya Neck”, “Method Man” and many other memorable tracks from members RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, U-God, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon and Ghostface Killa… The rest as they say, is history.

I thought I’d share some work from artist Logan Walters, who redesigned Wu-Tang Clan album covers and covers from some of the members’ solo projects a while back in the style of Blue Note record covers, titled the Wu-Note Project. A visual remix of the old school with the new school, nice enough to have hanging on the wall by your record collection… if you could actually crate dig for these.

Find the rest of Logan Walters’ Wu-Note Project here: Wu-Note Project

Having been executed 6 months ago, this is probably old news by now, though it’s only recently come to my attention.

Designer and music enthusiast Logan Walters set about re-creating classic Wu-Tang Clan album covers in the iconic Blue Note Records style.  Just a selection of my favourites are shown below, though you can peep the entire set here.

Enjoy:

Hi Y’all!

Thank you for coming this far with me.  Perhaps you’ve heard my web radio station “Curt’s Café” and wanted more information about what you heard there.  Or, maybe you’ve read my reviews or my column “Browsing the Bins” in Jazz Inside Magazine (formerly JazzImprov). Whatever brought you here, I’m grateful for your time and attention and I’ll try to make it worth your while. 

 The title of this first post comes from a question I’ve been asked by people online, who hear the music and then assume that my “café” has four walls and a kitchen.  Though I do know my way around a stove, the plan is for my café to remain a virtual one.

I’m not fond of talking about myself, but I know that a little exposition is needed in any story, even a blog, so here goes.  I’m a native New Yorker (Bronx and Long Island), who has lived in Charlotte, NC since 2000.  I’m married, for almost 20 years, to a beautiful, brilliant and creative woman, who is still yet to realize how remarkable she is.  We have one son, age nine, who is already a jazz fan and keeps us both on our toes. 

My love for jazz started also before I was ten, as curiosity about my older brother’s record collection. It blossomed during my college years, as I worked in the campus music library. It came to fruition in the late ‘90’s as I worked in terrestrial jazz radio and began to write.

Curt’s Café Noir (or Curt’s Café) has been on the air since November 2004. I’d listened to a few Web based radio stations for about a year before that and finally decided to try it myself.  It was originally a mix of jazz, soul, classic R & B and Gospel Music.  We found the jazz segments to be the most popular, so we went all jazz in 2006.

That’s enough about the past.  We “jazz people” spend more time than we should there, which is one of the myriad reasons that jazz is in the fix that it’s in now; but that’s a rant for a future post.  Curt’s Café the blog and the web radio station, will devote a major portion of airtime and blog space to the present and future of jazz.  Please understand that I love the history of this music and I have a deep, abiding respect for those from the past, who created much of what we still listen to regularly.  You will hear much of their work on the station.  However, there’s a lot of great music being made today, by artists who deserve to be heard and must be supported by the jazz loving public, if jazz is to have even the hope of a viable future.  So half of our prime listening hours are devoted to playing music made solely by living and working jazz artists, and not just those named Marsalis, Burrell and Rollins.  I hope that you will listen to these musicians and then support them, by buying their CDs or their legal music downloads.  I then hope you will take the next step and go out to see these artists in a live, paying performance.  While free concerts are nice for the public, they generally don’t pay the artists enough to even cover expenses.  So let’s dig a little bit into our pockets jazz fans, and pay to see the artists that we say we love, so they might see playing jazz as more than just a wallet draining avocation.

For those of you new to the station, we stream 24/7 through Live365.com.  In addition to the living artists, we play a good deal of the classics and rare tracks.  We also stream programs devoted to special interests, like the catalogs of Blue Note, Verve and Original Jazz Classics records.  We have two streams; a commercial stream, for which there is no charge, but like terrestrial radio, does include ads.  We also broadcast an ad-free stream, for which listeners pay Live365.com a monthly fee and in return, they hear programming without commercial interruption.  The choice is yours. Either way, I promise to bring you great jazz. Our programming is traditional for the most part, but not to the point where you can’t hear the young innovators who are the art form’s future, like Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper and Christian Scott.  You can listen right now, by clicking on the link on my homepage www.curtscafejazz.com or direct, through Live365 at http://www.live365.com/stations/curtjazz?play 

This blog will be an extension of the station.  I will post a new article at least once a week. Sometimes freeing my “mind” so “the rest” can follow; sometimes posting an interview or discussion with some of the cool jazz peeps who I think you’ll find interesting. Additionally, I’ll post short, but useful CD reviews, that will always be candid but never cruel.  Several times a week I will keep you up to date on new tracks that have been added to the playlists and, in a nod to my pop radio origins, a list of the most popular tracks currently heard on Curt’s Café.  Where possible, I’ll also provide links to my past reviews and articles in JazzImprov and Jazz Inside.

Well, now that we’ve met, I hope you won’t be a stranger and that you’ll visit often.  Believe me, I’ve got a lot on my mind about jazz and I plan to share a lot of it with you in this forum.  I don’t promise that you’ll always agree with me, but I hope that you’ll find it interesting enough to keep reading.  I also hope that this won’t be a one way conversation and that you’ll share your thoughts and opinions with me as well.  Feel free to leave your ”comments” after each post.  Many of us met on Twitter, so let’s all feel liberated by having more than 140 characters to express ourselves. 

                Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll see you next time, until then, as always, the jazz continues…

If they post blogs in Heaven, Mom and Dad, I love you and I hope you liked this. Say “hi” to “Dr.” Woods for me.

A bite of Sam’s Five Guy’s

The Blue Note to see Ron Carter.  Incredible show.  Thank you Josh!

Oliver offers an Altoid in the subway.  Ate it so I could take his picture and add it to the project.
Love this guy.

Late night leftovers.

And salami sandwich.

I am a very lucky lady this morning.  My wonderful husband has taken my daughter out to play and has left me blissfully alone in the apartment.  I’m taking advantage of this alone-time to listen to some Stan Getz and sip some coffee, uninterrupted.  For those of you who have small children, you know how fantastic it is to actually drink one entire cup of (hot) coffee without being interrupted!  I know I’ll be paying for this quiet time later, when my almost-three-year-old will go trick-or-treating and get all hopped-up on sugar and adrenaline…

I’ve been browsing through one of my favourite websites for album covers : http://www.gokudo.co.jp/index2.htm 

This website is really random.  I found it by accident when I was looking for Reid Miles album cover art.  I’m not sure if this is a store or just some dude’s stuff (because there’s a whole section dedicated to dogs) because the whole site is Japanese but I click on ‘Jazz Record’ to find all sorts of great album covers.  Sometimes, I refer to this website when I need inspiration for a project.  It’s great for colour combination and graphic design ideas.  Some of my favourites are posted here. 

Asylum has been going for a year now and over fifty bands and solo artists have contributed to the nights. It is thanks to those artists that the reputation of Live Lounge as Jersey’s outstanding music venue has grown in that time. Asylum has demonstrated by objectively representing the island’s diverse music culture that it is not necessary to hire tribute bands or the same few guaranteed crowd-pullers to preserve a collective project of artistic relevance. Thanks to all fans of good music in Jersey for their support.

We have chosen to mark the anniversary with a weekend of shows starting on Friday October 30th at Live Lounge with The Raffle, Esther Rose Parkes, Annie Law, Stephan Metcalfe and DJs Carlo and Livingstone. The entertainment continues on Saturday October 31st at Blue Note with The Coal Box Generals, Esther Rose Parkes and Stephan Metcalfe.

The Raffle

The Coal Box Generals

Annie Law

Stephan Metcalfe

Stephan has a blog hosted by WordPress in which his gigs and recording sessions are documented with honest and intimate style. Check it out here Stephan Metcalfe

During a concert in Rörum, Skåne, Sweden on August 14th 2009, Esther Rose Parkes was joined for a performance of her song Climbing The Stairs by Maria McKee. This video was uploaded to YouTube by Loffamalm

More.

Via this isn’t happiness.

i miss new york so fucking much.

Witchin' - Poster designed by Dave Spars

The Blue Note in Broad Street has an essential place in the history of musical life in St. Helier. It was established by Noel Flood in the early ’90s as a venue where lovers of honestly played music, predominantly blues, jazz, folk and fusion, can enjoy a comfortably intimate and authentic live music experience.

Asylum has invited The Coal Box Generals to perform there on Saturday October 31st. This duo is a significant offshoot of Guernsey’s esteemed, self-styled ‘cosmic skiffle’ combo The John Wesley Stone, comprising General Shack (acoustic guitar, banjo and vocals) and General Burg (electric lap steel).

Tom Girard of BBC Guernsey Introducing has said of The Coal Box Generals, “It is a treat to see this kind of music being played and played well. They really demonstrate how two men in Guernsey can evoke the sounds of men like Johnny Cash while still maintaining something of their own in the music.”

And what great music it is, infused with the irresistible charm of blues and gospel music crafted to a fine edge, scratchy, atmospheric, and timeless. Their performances are animated by their love of artists reinterpreting the blues for the twenty-first century such as The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band of Indiana, Arizonian alternative country pioneers Calexico, and Nick Cave’s primal blues gang Grinderman. They borrow and mix all manner of American ingredients such as the shuffling dance rhythms of Bo Diddley in their roistering hymn to stimulation Caffeine Benzedrine Nicotine, to the dust-blasted, love-scarred balladry of Whiskey Made The Devil Outta Me.

The Blue Note is a perfect location for a band of such quality and atmospheric power, and we hope you’ll be there for a night to remember. It’s free, too!

Esther Rose Parkes and Stephan Metcalfe will also be performing at the show.

Um ótimo disco de um pianista pouco citado. Parlan participou de importantes gravações ao lado de Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon e mais tarde, Roland Kirk. Este disco foi a estréia do pianista pelo selo Blue Note em fevereiro de 1960. Apesar de ter perdido o movimento de parte da mão direita devido a poliomelite quando criança, Parlan é capaz de tocar um piano muito delicado e sofisticado. Essa sessão é prova disso. Juntam-se ao pianista para uma sequência de standards Sam Jones, no baixo, e o baterista Al Harewood .

1. C Jam Blues
2. On Green Dolphin Street
3. Up In Cynthia’s Room
4. Lady Bird
5. Bags’ Groove
6. Stella By Starlight
7. There Is No Greater Love
8. It Could Happen To You

Horace Parlan (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Al Harewood (drums)

Jazz a quintessentially American form of musical expression has been embraced and respected as an art form by the French, to such an enthusiastic degree as perhaps nowhere else outside of the United States. Over the years many leading American musicians have made temporary or permanent homes in France.  Paris, like New York offers some of the best live performances that are available to the public in either country.  Most of the New York venues have long storied histories, while many of the Parisian locales can claim a unique ambience that transforms the overall experience. In New York, most clubs have a cover charge usually proportional to the fame and popularity of the musicians (advance ticket purchases or reservations recommended). The price can include a drink or two. In some locations dinner can be purchased in lieu of the cover. In Paris, cover charges may or may not be present, but if not, the prices of the requisite drinks can be quite high. Check out each destination to determine their current policy.

Here are some of my New York favorites.

Birdland, a mid-town landmark, named after Charlie Parker, in its third incarnation, is where musicians such as John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Stan Getz have performed and recorded. A classy and comfortable club, it’s a bit more spacious than some of the other popular haunts.

Blue Note, a chain of global jazz clubs with restaurants, first opened with its New York location in Greenwich Village and quickly became one of the world’s most famous jazz venues. Its tight quarters have their advantage, sitting at a table near the stage, you are close enough to hand the performers a drink when they need one.

The Lennox Lounge in Harlem has gone through a glorious history since its inception in 1939 having been graced by the likes of Billy Holiday, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Writers such as James Baldwin, Langston Hughes and Malcolm X were avid patrons. It was renovated in the late 1990’s and still retains its special flare, often used as a locale for popular films.

The Village Vanguard is another jazz club in Greenwich Village, the oldest of this group, originally supporting other art forms such as folk music and beat poetry, but switched to an all jazz format in the late 1950’s. The small club, 15 steps below street level has been praised by musicians for the unique sound the space offers. Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans and John Coltrane were some of its most famous engagements. Wynton Marsalis regularly recorded there in the 1990’s.

Dizzy’s Club, opened in 2004, this newest and most ambitious entry is part of Jazz at Lincoln Center located in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. The new surroundings are most welcoming, a view of Central Park in a large window provides a backdrop behind the musicians and there is the opportunity to enjoy ‘after hours’ sessions that can go on to the wee hours of the morning after the last formal sets are concluded on Friday and Saturday nights.

In Paris I find Le Caveau des Oubliettes , which is perhaps the oldest Jazz Club in Paris, most intriguing. Built on the site of an ancient dungeon, you have to descend a winding stairs into a cavern like space that does not feel far removed from its origins. The jazz you find here is more contemporary and sometimes the music shares the space with other activities. It is conveniently located in the Latin Quarter just across the river from Notre Dame.

Caveau De La Huchette located nearby in Saint Germain des Pres offers more traditional jazz in an atmospheric setting that recalls the glory days of jazz. They have been offering  great jazz for over 60 years.

Cross the river Seine and not too far away on the Ile ST Louis is La Cave du Franc Pinot . They play a good deal of swing and bebop along with the occasional modern performance, enjoyed in the natural acoustics of their vaulted stone cellars, offering lunch time entertainment on Sundays.

By visiting Le Duc des Lombards with its cool ambience and décor, you are no longer on the traditional left bank home of Paris jazz clubs. It is located in Les Halles, on the Rue des Lombards, along with other Jazz clubs such as Le Baiser Sale (opportunity to hear Latin and African jazz) and Sunset/ Sunside the first club to open in the area, offering electric and acoustic jazz and world music. Le Duc strives to bring together the finest overseas musicians to play alongside local talent.

To round out your pleasures, for a sophisticated experience, take in the Jazz Club Lionel Hampton. Its beautiful and romantic surroundings support a wide range of music extending beyond jazz to the occasional blues, gospel or rock. Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, Oscar Peterson, BB King and Fats Domino have all performed there.

Memorable experiences are to be found in all of these venues, sit back, have a drink and enjoy.

Uno splendido brano di Eric Dolphy dedicato al flauto d’oro Severino Gazzelloni

Eric Dolphy: flauto; Freddie Hubbard: tormba; Bobby Hutcherson: vibrafono; Richard Davis contrabbasso; Tony Williams: batteria.

Out to lunch Blue Note 1964.